Apple Crisp with Quinoa

Day one of the Elimination Diet. This morning was rough. I haven’t swapped out my bread yet, so I didn’t make my useful boiled egg, toast, and arugula (more on that later). I took a tip from one of my bosses and made a yummy quinoa, steel cut oat cereal this morning instead. Soupy oatmeal is my favorite, so I prepared mine with a good helping of soy milk and honey. I made a huge pot, which means I’ll have lots more for the week.

My boyfriend (being a dear) invited me over for dinner. We have an unspoken argeement that whoever doesn’t cook dinner brings over dessert and washes dishes. Because he had taken on the main dish for the evening, that left me with the sweet stuff. In the past, we’d done baked goods. Cupcakes, mini cheesecakes, pies. Basically all things that were now off limits. As I said earlier post, I’m not about crazy substitutes. I really don’t want to drop a ton of money on ingredients that will probably go bad before I can ever use them all.

Using what I had on hand, I tweaked this tasty recipe from Harris Whole Health. Instead of the grain flours, I used some of my oatmeal combo from this morning. The cooked grains mixed with the brown sugar were just as crunchy as a flour crumble but way more earthy. It was so good, that when my boyfriend’s roommates came home and finished up the leftovers straight out of the pan.



Apple Crisp adapted from Harris Whole Health

Topping:
1 cup cooked steel cut oats
½ cup cooked quinoa
½ cup chopped nuts (I used slivered almonds and pecans)
1/2 tsp salt
½ cup brown sugar
¼ cup walnut oil
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
dash of cinnamon and a dash of nutmeg

Extra brown sugar and cinnamon for very top

Filling:
4 large Granny Smith apples
1 cup (8 oz.) frozen berry medley (I like Trader Joe's Very Cherry Berry Blend)
½ cup sugar
zest of a lemon
1 ½ tablespoons corn starch
½ teaspoon cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease 8X8 pan with oil.
Peel and core apples. Cut into thick slices. Mix all filling ingredients together and add to pan. In another bowl, combine the topping ingredients and sprinkle over the fruit. Bake for 20 minutes until bubbling. Switch to broil and cook for another another 15 minutes until golden brown.

*** Next time I’ll make this with a big scoop of good soy or coconut ice cream.